“Sweden is a parliamentary democracy governed at the national, regional and local level with a proportional election system. General elections for the three levels of government are held on the same day every 4 years. All Swedish citizens aged 18 years or older are entitled to vote in the parliamentary and EU elections. To be entitled to vote in the municipal and regional elections, individuals are required to be at least 18 years of age and a resident of the municipality and region concerned for the past 3 years, but citizenship is not required. In the 2022 national election, election participation was 84%, compared with 87% in 2018, the first decrease in participation in 20 years (Statistics Sweden, 2022f). Sweden has been a member of the EU since 1995 and implements EU regulations and takes part in the decision-making process for joint regulation.
“The Riksdag is a uni-cameral parliament and the supreme national political decision-making body in Sweden with 349 seats. The Riksdag appoints the Prime Minister, who is requested to form a government. The government implements the Riksdag’s decisions and draws up proposals for new laws or law amendments, assisted by the Government Offices of Sweden, comprising a number of ministries and some 300 national government agencies and public administrative bodies. The task of the government agencies is to implement the decisions made by the Riksdag and the government. They are autonomous in the sense that they act on their own responsibility, in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the government. Compared with other EU member states, the decision-making process is decentralized, known as local self-government, and the autonomy of the municipal and regional councils in terms of self-governance and power of proportional income taxation is enshrined in the Swedish constitution (Regeringsformen 1974:152). While governed by national assignments and government regulations, they are responsible for a range of tasks related to welfare and local and regional community development. Within their area of jurisdiction and responsibility, regions and municipalities are governed by elected politicians in municipal and regional councils.”
Source: Janlöv N, Blume S, Glenngård AH, Hanspers K, Anell A, Merkur S. Sweden: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2023; 25(3): i–198.
“Sweden is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. The prime minister is the head of government and the monarch is the head of state. The government exercises executive power. Legislative power is vested in the single-chamber parliament (349 members). Sweden is a unitary state, divided into 20 counties and 290 municipalities.”
Source: European Union. Country Profile: Sweden. EU Directorate-General for Communication. Last accessed March 6, 2025.
“The parliament makes the decisions and the government implements them. The government also submits proposals for new laws or law amendments to the parliament.
“The parliament with its 349 members is Sweden’s primary representative forum. The entire parliament is chosen by direct elections based on suffrage for all Swedish citizens aged 18 or over who are, or previously have been, residents of Sweden.
“General elections to the parliament are held on the second Sunday of September every four years. To serve in the parliament, a person has to be a Swedish citizen and aged 18 or more. Seats are distributed among the political parties in proportion to the votes cast for them across the country as a whole.
“Four per cent required
“There is one exception to the rule of full national proportionality: a party must receive at least 4 per cent of all votes in the election to gain representation in the parliament, a rule designed to prevent very small parties from getting in.”
Source: The Swedish Institute. The Swedish System of Government. Last accessed Sept. 28, 2019.
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Page last updated March 31, 2025 by Doug McVay, Editor.